Lucky Man
by Lili-cue
Summary: Justin just wants some peace and quiet during NXT.  He does not think it would help to be locked in a locker room, especially with John Cena.


**Title:** Lucky Man

**Pairing: **Pre-slash: John Cena/Justin Gabriel

**Rating: **T

**Disclaimer: **Hahahah no. Not mine. Not at all. I wish? I guess. But I really wouldn't know what to do with them.

**Note:** I haven't completed any stories let alone a wrestling story in a long time. But I'm kind of hopeless about Justin Gabriel and think he needs more he's not a giant slut stories. I don't even want to talk about where Cena came from cause two months ago I could not even STAND him. I blame it all on my friend. She knows who she is. These two are now so meant to be. It's not beta'd. Sorry if the tense jumps around. It's you know, whatever.

This came about from a prompt by another friend of mine. John/Justin – First meeting, locked in a room together.

This was just his luck really. All he'd wanted was a little time away from the crowded NXT locker room, the tension running high as three of them had been eliminated earlier that night. It had been little comfort knowing he, Heath and Wade had survived what with the angry Skip slamming his hand into a locker, proclaiming how it wasn't fair he'd had to go even after Daniel and Michael had already been pushed off the show earlier in the night. Pointing out all the reasons one of the other remaining men should have gone. He'd slipped out of the room, waving off Heath's concerned gaze explaining that he was just going to get some air, but instead after going outside for a moment and seeing the other various people coming out for a smoke or the workers bringing stuff in and out he'd decided that idea wasn't very good either. Instead, he found himself back inside, looking to find anywhere to get some peace and quiet.

He'd come across the bare room down a back hallway of the arena that he didn't see anyone else down, and after taking a quick glance around not seeing anything that would indicate it was occupied, he slipped in shutting the door behind him. The NXT rookie let himself take in the silence around him for a while, happy to have a chance at some calm to collect his thoughts. He was happy with the opportunity that was presenting itself but it seemed that ever since he'd been a part of the show he'd had little to no time by himself to just think. They were constantly being herded from city to city each week and he'd still had to make the FCW appearances along with anything else WWE decided they wanted the rookies to do to in the meantime. Justin felt like this small moment sneaking off in the arena was the first time he'd just been alone in the quiet in _forever._

After taking a bit of time to calm himself, thinking to himself that no matter what happened, how hard this was it was the opportunity of a lifetime, Justin got up and moved to the door twisting the handle to leave only to find it wouldn't budge.

"What the…" he muttered to himself pulling on the handle harder, a noise of distress escaping him as he realized it was not moving. He began pounding his fists on the solid door, yelling out hoping that someone, anyone, would happen by and hear him.

"HELLO? Little help in here please!" He pressed his ear to the door listening for any sound outside that would imply somebody heard him before pressing his forehead to the door closing his eyes tightly.

Justin growled in frustration as he slammed his fists to the locked door again, letting out a loud "Fuck!" as he moved away from the door. His eyes fell on a steel folding chair sitting against the wall and he picked it up, tears of frustration stinging his eyes as he used all his strength to fling it at the closed door, turning then and sinking down to the bench in the room, head in hands and back to the door letting another scream of frustration rip itself from his throat.

He was so distracted that he didn't hear the door open slightly or see the person slip in, a look of confusion on his face as his eyes landed on the slumped over figure on the bench. Thinking he may be intruding, but not able to leave someone who seemed to be so obviously upset John moved a little further into the room but pushed the door to close behind him to keep some semblance of privacy as he softly called out to the man on the bench.

"Hey man, you okay?"

It takes Justin about three seconds to register someone had spoken to him and another three to realize the door was just about to slip back closed as he jumped up shouting, "DON'T LET THAT DOOR CLOSE!"

John jumped slightly at the outburst and turned to grab for the handle just as the door slipped shut again and Justin groaned slipping backing down to the bench dejectedly, dimly registering that the person who'd come in was now pulling at the door himself. That John Cena was pulling at the door now. That he was now locked in a room with John Cena. He forced himself to twist on the bench and felt his breath catch as John turned away from the door and fixed Justin with a smile.

"I guess now I see why you looked like someone kicked your dog, huh?" He joked, taking his hat off and letting a hand run over his hair before glancing at the discarded chair near the side of the door pointing at it. "I'm guessing that's the strange noise I came to investigate."

Justin shook himself from the shock and sheepishly shrugged his shoulders, offering a small smile "Well nobody could hear me yelling..."

John nodded his head and picked the chair up, opening it up to straddle it as he fixed his eyes on the man across from him. "Yeah, there's not really anyone coming up and down this hallway. I was only trying to figure out where the string of locker rooms were cause I'm supposed to be meeting up with some friends after the show."

Justin couldn't help letting out another sigh and running a hand over his face as he realized the chances of them being found anytime soon were continuing to dwindle. He turned his gaze to John again and noticed he was looking at him intently, grin still plastered on his face. He suddenly wished he'd bothered to change his clothing before slipping out of the locker room earlier as he felt a little self conscious now sitting across from _John Cena_, alone in only his trunks.

"You're one of the rookies right? From NXT?" John questioned, hands crossed over the top of the chair.

"Yeah, umm, sorry." He ran a hand through his hair before extending his hand to the other man. "I'm Justin. Justin-"

"Justin Gabriel." John nodded as he took Justin's hand in his, grip firm as he shook the others hand, grin never leaving his face. "I've seen you out there, you're good man. Real good. I'm John, nice to meet you."

Justin pulled his hand back and tried to stop the heat from rushing to his face, nodding and laughing slightly. "Yeah, I know who you are."

John's grin dropped then, a look of mock seriousness falling over his face as he responds, "Heard all good things I hope."

"Mostly." he answers, "I mean besides the satanic rituals you perform before each match in the locker room." Justin almost smacks himself at his attempt at humor but is pleased when John laughs.

"You sacrifice ONE chicken," He shakes his head before throwing his head back to indicate the door. "So how'd you get yourself locked in here anyway?"

Justin runs a hand over the back of his neck then and sighs. "I just wanted to get some peace and quiet, you know? I feel like we've been running around so much lately, not getting any rest and with the eliminations tonight…" he trails off, noticing John listening intently as he shrugs, "I just wanted some place to clear my head. Sort of put things in perspective."

"And did it work?" John asks, and Justin sees only genuine interest on the other's face as he responds.

"A little. I guess. I mean, it's like I've been away from home for so long anyway you'd think I wouldn't mind traveling around, and I don't! Not really. It's just sometimes I think I don't want to let myself get used to…all of this and then have it be over because I didn't do enough to prove myself." He lets himself think about Daniel, Michael and Skip again and closes his eyes. "And even if I do pull it off and actually win, then what about everyone else? Heath and Wade. They deserve it too!" He realizes he's letting himself get upset again and goes to open his mouth again to apologize for rambling when he feels a hand on his shoulder.

John has moved to sit beside him on the bench, hand rested gently on his shoulder. "It's never going to be easy achieving your dream, you know? All you can really do is go out there each week and show everyone what you've got. Even if you, or whoever, doesn't win you can make sure you've left the people out there wanting more. Make sure the people watching see what they'd be missing if they didn't have you out there."

John lets the grin creep across his face again and squeezes the other's shoulder "And I think they'd miss what you're showing them. Like I said. You're real good."

Justin feels the heat return to his face but offers John a large smile of his own. "Thanks. That really means a lot coming from someone like you." He lets out a breath of relief as he feels like a knot unties itself in his stomach. "Feels good to get that out."

John nods "Sometimes it really helps to talk it out." He winks then and nudges Justin in the side as he adds "Not add to the frustration by locking yourself in a room."

Justin lets out a loud genuine laugh at that and John can't even help it when his stomach flips a bit.

"You're probably right. It's just hard to talk about with the others when they've probably got the exact same frustrations and fears that I do" the young high flyer adds as he calms himself.

John's face brightens "Well hey! I guess since we're such great friends now" he nudges Justin slightly at this "you could always just call me, text me whatever. I mean I could try to help. I know you've got your friends and Hardy to kind of mentor you, but if you ever just need another ear."

John reaches into his pocket then and produces his cell phone, fingers on the buttons "What's your number? I can shoot you a text so you can save mine and we could…"

He stops himself as he realizes Justin is staring at him eyes wide in surprise. "Or…if you don't feel comfortable..."

"You've got your cell phone?" Justin asks incredulously.

"Well yeah, of course I've got it. Sad how these things are kind of glued to our…" He stops as he realizes what's got Justin's eyes wide and it's his turn to look embarrassed. "I guess I could have handled this whole locked in a room thing a little earlier then, huh?"

Justin can't even help it as he bursts with laughter, holding his side and pushing the other man firmly in the shoulder. "I can't believe you! Did you do that on purpose?"

John joins in his laughter and shakes his head "No way! I didn't even think about!"

Both of them laugh for another minute, Justin muttering jokingly under his breath words about what an ass the other is before they stop for John to make a phone call explaining to the person on the other end where they are. As he hangs up he looks at the other and is happy to see he's still smiling.

"Was it really that terrible?" He questions and is happy when Justin shakes his head.

"No, not at all actually. I think it was exactly what I needed." A more cautious, shy smile creeps over his lips as he adds "Really, thank you."

"No problem!" John is still gripping the phone in his hand and holds it in front of Justin, raising an eyebrow suggestively. "You gonna give me those digits then?"

Justin smirks and grabs the phone from John's hand, putting the number in himself before handing the phone back. Just as John goes to put it in his pocket, Justin jumps slightly.

"Wait! I put the wrong name!" John looks at him curiously, holding the phone in his hand as he scrolls through it.

"How do you put the wrong name?" He questions as he watches the furious blush come over Justin's face.

"I just. I'm not used to the whole Justin Gabriel thing yet. I put in Justin Angel. I'll change it, lemme see." As he reaches for the phone John grabs his wrist mid reach and doesn't let go as he shakes his head. He brushes his thumb over the soft skin and Justin has to duck his head as John leans in a little closer.

"Naw, Justin Angel. I like that. I'm gonna keep it." Justin looks up, eyes locking with John. He can feel his chest tightening slightly as the other continues to rub his thumb along his wrist and he's about to respond when there's a knock on the door and it bursts open and a booming voice calls out.

"Leave it to you, Cena, to get yourself locked in a room." Justin pulls his hand back, covering it with his other and pushing himself off the bench and staring at The Big Show who's entered the room.

"Well Paul, you know me. Always up for an adventure!" John responds throwing his hands up in the air and laughing at his friend. He looks at Justin who looks as if he's going to bolt now that the door is open.

"Paul, you know Justin over here?" He watches as The Big Show moves his eyes back and forth from him and back to Justin, seemingly intrigued by the other's presence before he nods.

"Sure. He's one of the rookies right? The one who can do the…" he puts both hands in the air circling the fingers "flip thing. 450 splash. Justin Gabriel right?"

John can feel his heart lift as Justin's eyes brighten and he nods. "Yeah! Yes. Hi. Nice to meet you!" He offers his hand to the Big Show who shakes it, before pulling back and turning to look back at John.

"Well. Thank you. For the uh, talk. And for getting me out of the room I guess." He moves to the door and feels foolish as he gives them both a little wave, moving quickly down the hallway stopping only when he hears John call out after him.

"Hey, Justin! Keep your head up, alright? It'll work itself out."

He grins at the other man and nods, moving towards the NXT locker room, hoping his friends haven't cleared out yet and is immediately bombarded by Heath when he enters.

"Just! Where the hell have you been man we've been looking everywhere for you! I think Wade was just about to start breaking down locker room doors!" His friend grabs his shoulder and leads him to the bench, checking him over. "You alright?"

Justin nods, sorry he's worried them and responds softly "Yeah, yeah I'm fine I, uh, got myself locked in one of the rooms in another hallway. Sorry I worried you."

Heath ruffles Justin hair and laughs as Justin swats his hand away. "Locked in a room. Only you, man I swear."

Justin doesn't bother to add that it seems like he isn't the only one stupid enough to get himself locked in a room, but he doesn't think he could explain to his friend right now what happened. He's not even sure if he himself knows what just happened but he can't stop smiling as he pulls his bag out and changes. As he slings the bag over his shoulder, moving to leave the room he pulls his phone out. He tells himself he's surprised to see a message from a number he doesn't recognize, but if he's honest with himself – he's not. He bites down on his bottom lip trying to suppress a grin as he reads the message over.

"See you around, Angel."

There are tons of people who call him that, and it's only through his phone, but Justin can practically hear John saying the words to him and he suddenly really, really hopes he gets the chance to stick around.


End file.
